Dumbo
Dir: Tim Burton
2019
**
In
2001, the 60th Anniversary Edition DVD of Dumbo featured a sneak peek
of the proposed sequel Dumbo II, including new character designs and
storyboards. Robert C. Ramirez was to direct the sequel, in which Dumbo and his
circus friends navigated a large city after being left behind by their
traveling circus. The sequel also sought to explain what happened to
Dumbo's father, Mr. Jumbo. Dumbo's circus friends included the chaotic twin
bears Claude and Lolly, the curious zebra Dot, the older, independent hippo Godfry,
and the adventurous ostrich Penny. The animals were metaphors for the different
stages of childhood. Dumbo II was supposed to be set on the day
immediately following the end of the first Dumbo movie. However,
rightly or wrongly, John Lasseter cancelled the film soon after
being named Chief Creative Officer of Walt Disney Animation
Studios in 2006. Fast forward a few years and, having totally run out of
ideas, Disney decide that instead of writing anything new, they would now focus
on making live-action remakes of all their animated classic, most of which
would be just as animated as the originals. This is mostly a bad idea but I did
wonder whether films like Pinocchio and Dumbo could work. Thing is, there are
some lovely live-action adaptations of Pinocchio already, so Dumbo seemed one
of the logical places to start. I think it could have been something wonderful,
but it wasn’t. I’m guessing the current people at Disney had never seen Tim
Burton’s remake of Planet of the Apes, so wouldn’t therefore know of the dangers
of asking for his assistance. I didn’t want to see a full on shot-for-shot
remake of Dumbo but this ‘re-imagining’ of the original sucks out all of the
charm of the first and replaces it with sad looking CGI and pointless humans.
The first half of the film vaguely covers the original film and then the second
half is its own monster. Set in 1919, equestrian performer
and World War I amputee, Holt Farrier (Colin Farrell) returns after
the war to the Medici Brothers' Circus, run by Max Medici (Danny DeVito).
The circus has run into financial troubles and Medici has been forced to sell
the circus' horses after Holt's wife and co-performer, Annie, died from
the Spanish flu outbreak, so Medici reassigns Holt as the caretaker for
the circus' pregnant Asian elephant, "Mrs. Jumbo". Mrs. Jumbo
gives birth to a calf with unusually large ears and Medici orders Holt to hide
the ears before allowing the public to see the calf. However, the calf
accidentally reveals his ears in his debut performance in Joplin,
Missouri, and the crowd mockingly names the calf "Dumbo" while
pelting him with peanuts and other objects. Mrs. Jumbo, horrified and enraged
by her son's mistreatment, rampages into the ring, causing extensive damage and
accidentally collapsing the big top, which results in the death of an
abusive handler. Afterwards, to prevent a public relations problem, Medici
resorts to selling Mrs. Jumbo. Holt's son and daughter, Joe and Milly Farrier
(Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins), comfort Dumbo and discover he can fly by
flapping his ears. The children also discover that feathers are the key to
Dumbo's willingness to fly. In another performance, Dumbo plays the role of
a firefighter clown to put out a fire with water sprayed from
his trunk, but the performance goes wrong and Dumbo is trapped on a high
platform surrounded by flames. Milly delivers a feather to Dumbo, giving him
the confidence to fly. The audience is astounded when Dumbo flies and word of
his talent begins to spread. V. A. Vandevere (Michael Keaton), the entrepreneur
and owner of a bohemian amusement park called Dreamland in New
York City, approaches Medici and proposes a collaboration; Medici would become
Vandevere's partner and the Medici Brothers' Circus' troupe would be employed
to perform at Dreamland. Later, Vandevere demands that Dumbo fly with
French trapeze artist, Colette Marchant (Eva Green). Colette and
Dumbo’s debut performance at Dreamland goes wrong with Dumbo nearly falling off
a high platform leading to him trumpeting in alarm since there is no safety
net. Dumbo hears his mother's call in response and realizes that his mother is
in an exhibit elsewhere in Dreamland. Dumbo flies out of the circus ring,
reuniting with his mother, to the disappointment of the audience. Fearing that
Mrs. Jumbo may become a distraction to him and ruin his reputation, Vandevere
orders her to be terminated. Vandevere also fires all the Medici performers
from Dreamland. When Holt and the rest of the Medici troupe learn that
Vandevere intends to kill Dumbo's mother and it's no longer safe for the two
elephants to live with them, they resolve to set both her and Dumbo free. The
circus performers utilize their various talents to break Mrs. Jumbo out of her
enclosure while Holt and Colette guide Dumbo to fly out of the circus. Vandevere
attempts to stop them, but starts a fire triggered by the enraged
mismanagement of Dreamland's electricity system, which spreads and destroys the
park. After Dumbo saves Holt and his family from the fire, Holt, Colette, the
kids, and the troupe bring Dumbo and his mother to the harbor, where they board
a ship back to their native home in India. Afterwards, the renamed Medici
Family Circus is re-established and flourishes with Colette as the newest
troupe member, Milly as host of a science lecture exhibit, and performers
dressed as animals in line with the circus's new policy of not using wild
animals in captivity for entertainment (while it is implied that Vandevere
was arrested and tried for misconduct). Meanwhile, Dumbo and his mother
reunite with a herd of wild elephants who applaud their newest members as he
flies with joy for their future to come. It was decided that none of the
animals would talk and that there would be no musical number like the original.
Basically, they cut out everything that people loved about the original. The
whole Dreamland thing had nothing to do with the spirit of Dumbo and I find it
rather odd that a giant like Disney would try to criticize the idea of the big
greedy organisation (dealing with attractions and theme parks) without an inch
of irony. Dreamland buys the circus, takes what it wants and then gets rid of
the rest. Remind you of anyone? Dreamland itself was designed by Rick
Heinrichs who said he was heavily influenced by the works of Edward
Hopper. I’m guessing he means another Edward Hopper and not the famous painter
who created Nighthawks. Hopper’s famous paintings were all done a good few
decades after the First World War. Heinrichs has said that “having worked with
Tim many times in the past, I know that Burton is a little less interested in
giving a history lesson as he is in the emotional story being told” but here he
fails at both. It’s a combination of bad ideas and poor design. It didn’t need
all the humans, in fact it was worse for them. I get why they got rid of the
crows but cutting Timothy the mouse out of the story was a step too far. I had
no enthusiasm for it whatsoever, even when elements of Batman Returns crept
into the story. Sadly not even Danny DeVito, Michael Keaton or Alan Arkin could
save it. DeVito said that when Burton called him up asking him to be in this
film, he referred to the project as "the completion of the circus
trilogy" after the pair had worked on Mars Attacks and Big Fish together –
both films featuring the actor as a sort of circus ring leader. Tim Burton
hasn’t made a good film in years and sadly this is one of his worst. The
original Dumbo was created to make money fast after Pinocchio and Fantasia
bombed at the box office and it outsold both of them put together, saving the
studio. 78 years later, and the remake took a massive hit, under performing
globally. The irony never stops. It’s horrible, I think Dumbo was the only one
not drinking.
